Opened in 1931, it was designed by architect Aymar Embury II and includes a visual art museum with three galleries and the John Drew Theater, a 360 seat proscenium stage.
It is historically significant for its role in exhibiting the works of the American Abstract expressionists Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Lee Krasner, John Ferren, and Robert Motherwell; performances by Helen Hayes, Thornton Wilder, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon, Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson, and hundreds of other world-class stars of stage and screen; and involvement by the literary figures George Plimpton, Peter Matthiessen, Gore Vidal, Edward Albee, and John Steinbeck.
Conceived of and mainly funded by the philanthropist Mrs. Lorenzo E. Woodhouse, Guild Hall opened to great fanfare on August 19, 1931[1] ("East Hampton has never known a celebration like that"), when 1,000 people crammed into the theater and gallery.
Eventually, the "rebels in their own social set" persuaded the reluctant board to agree to a regional invitational visual arts show that would bring some of the most prominent artists of the day—as well as an embracing of more broad and avant garde criteria—to Guild Hall.
One of two galleries at Guild Hall is named for its founder, Mrs. Lorenzo E. Woodhouse; another for the painter Thomas Moran, who is credited with "colonizing" the Village of East Hampton as an artists' community in the mid-19th century.
In recent years, art by area artists who are also internationally celebrated has included that of Larry Rivers, Ross Bleckner, Eric Fischl, April Gornik, Miriam Schapiro, Esteban Vicente, Barbara Kruger, Audrey Flack, Elaine de Kooning, Andy Warhol, Dan Flavin, Elliott Erwitt, Hans Namuth, Julian Schnabel, and Jane Wilson.
17 Artists of Eastern Long Island: In 1949, the Board reluctantly agreed to the first Guild Hall regional invitational show, which installed works by Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, Balcomb Greene and Nat Werner, among others.
[4] Works by Jennifer Bartlett, Chuck Close, Carolyn Conrad, Robert Dash, Eric Fischl, Cornelia Foss, Ralph Gibson, April Gornik, Mary Heilmann, William King, Barbara Kruger, Thomas Moran, Costantino Nivola, Alfonso Ossorio, Betty Parsons, Clifford Ross, David Salle, and Carol Saxe were included.
[1] The John Drew Theater at Guild Hall produces more than 100 programs each year, including plays, concerts, dance performances, film screenings, simulcasts, and literary readings.
Performers have included the Academy, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Award–winning luminaries Alec Baldwin, Matthew Broderick, Blythe Danner, James Earl Jones, Patti LuPone, Wynton Marsalis, Liza Minnelli, Leslie Odom Jr., Audra McDonald, Laurie Metcalf, Mercedes Ruehl, Steve Martin, and Marlo Thomas; the dance companies Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, New York City Ballet, and Pilobolus; the performance artists Laurie Anderson and Meredith Monk; the directors Robert Wilson, Susan Stroman, Tony Walton, Harris Yulin, Bob Fosse, Gwen Verdon, and Julie Taymor; the jazz greats Winton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Sonny Rollins, Earl Klugh and Regina Carter; the comedians Jay Leno, Joy Behar, John Leguizamo, Jerry Seinfeld, and Martin Short; and the legendary musicians Mavis Staples, Patti Smith, Philip Glass, Billy Joel, and The Beach Boys.
Past recipients of the Academy of the Arts award have included the actor Lauren Bacall, playwright Joe Pintauro, the artist Paul Davis, and the author John Irving.
Panel discussions in recent years have featured panelists Amy Goodman, Nicholas Lemann, Bob Garfield, Jonathan Alter, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Dr. Paul Farmer, Elizabeth Warren, Van Jones, Ken Auletta, Katie Couric, John Podhoretz, and Monica Crowley.